


Don't Make Me Spell It Out For You

by cloverfield



Category: Cardcaptor Sakura, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Sensing Magical Powers, Syaoran is a Useless Bisexual, childhood crushes, gentle teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:41:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22114285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloverfield/pseuds/cloverfield
Summary: Ah. So it’s like that, then.Kurogane smirks. It’s good to knowsomethings are the same, no matter which world they’re on.
Relationships: Fay D. Fluorite/Kurogane, Kinomoto Sakura/Li Syaoran
Comments: 22
Kudos: 262





	Don't Make Me Spell It Out For You

**Author's Note:**

> A tumblr prompt fill. The comment was "I really love the image of lil' angry CCS!Syaoran meeting Fai and reacting to him the same way he does Yuki. And everyone else is just bemused/amused. SYAORAN YOU'RE SUCH A MESS I CAN'T EVEN."
> 
> Sakura makes some new friends, and Syaoran gets flustered.

“Oh! So you came from a different world?”

Even born beneath a different sky, the princess’ eyes are still just as wide, just as delighted even beneath the frilly brim of her hat, their bright and clear shade of green the same unmistakable colour Kurogane has only seen twice before.

Fai sweeps into the kind of low bow a courtier would envy, cloak falling heavy and soft over his shoulders. “We certainly did, princess- _oh_ , I’m sorry. I should call you Sakura-san. Every Sakura I’ve ever met has been a princess, you see, and the habit’s a hard one to break.” Blue eyes twinkle as Fai looks up with a grin.

“A _princess_?” she squeaks, and Kurogane can’t stop the smile that tugs at the corner of his mouth as her face flushes and she almost drops her star-tipped baton in shock at the thought. She’s only young, this one, barely half the age of the girl they left behind in Clow, her smile wide and the desert wind whipping through her tawny hair as she waved them off into the warp of the manjuu’s magic.

She’s just as powerful though (even Kurogane can feel _that_ ) and the rush of pride for a pint-sized princess he doesn’t even _know_ isn’t something that can be helped, especially since she felt the surge of them crashing through the veil of this world and into the cool shadows of what looks like a playground, wondering where the hell they’d been dropped this time.

Syaoran’s not anywhere in sight and neither is Mokona, but Kurogane isn’t too worried; the kid had been at the other end of the ruins from the last world when they’d been swept up, and even if he’s landed somewhere else in this city with the manjuu - the tall buildings rippling with glass and stars, the burning glow of a thousand distant streetlamps washing across the sky in orange and white and yellow - they’ll find him soon enough. For now, they’ve got _bigger_ problems - like the small girl who’d stumbled upon them as soon as they’d gotten their feet under them.

(Kurogane has to wonder what, exactly, someone so young is doing out so late in a _public park_ of all places - a girl so small should be home in bed and not getting up to magical mischief in the middle of the night!)

“ _Absolutely_ , your highness- oh, there I go _again_ , please do forgive me.” Fai straightens with a frown Kurogane knows to be theatrically fake, pressing the tip of one long and elegant finger to his forehead as he pouts. “Oh, this is going to be troublesome. I suppose I couldn’t ask you to do an old man like me a favour and simply let my mistakes slide - it’s so hard to remember when you look so much like a princess yourself!”

“Ah!” splutters this Sakura, waving her hands in front of herself. Her gloves are white and just as frilly as her hat, clearly part of a matching outfit with her puffy pink dress - and one that’s been lovingly handmade, if the delicate stitches Kurogane can see even by moonlight are anything to go by. “That’s quite alright, Mister- _er_ , um, _Mister_ …?”

“Please call me Fai, princess. And my lovely companion here is Kuro-tan, and he’s very pleased to meet you also.”

“Kurogane,” mutters Kurogane in absent correction, turning about to scan the dim shadows of the park proper. “And we’re not alone.”

Sakura startles, whipping about to see where Kurogane was looking, and her whole face lights up with a smile. “OH! That’ll be Li-kun! He and Kero went left when I went right - we were chasing a Clow Card, and we thought splitting up would be the best bet, since we could cover more ground in two teams, but of course Kero said Li-kun couldn’t be trusted since he was trying to take the card for himself, and then they started arguing and they were _still_ arguing even when they left and that was almost an hour ago now, so I don’t know if they found anything…”

Kurogane watches Fai mouth _Li-kun? Clow card? Kero?_ silently, his fair brow crumpling with thought, but his smile smoothes out almost immediately when two distant shadows - one small, one _very_ small - come at last into view beneath the glow of a streetlamp, stepping beneath the puddle of light it pours into the park’s leafy bowers.

“Li-kun! Kero-chan!” waves Sakura, twirling her baton in one hand. “Over here!” The star atop her wand spins gently, hovering bright and cheerful inside the circle capping it, and Kurogane has to hide a grin at the exuberance of the magic tickling against the edges of his senses. Even Fai is smiling gently, the very same smile he’d given _their_ princess when they’d seen her last, and that warmth in blue eyes sweetens the thin edge of his lips.

“Come and meet my new friends - they have magic too! They landed in the park when I was looking for the card and they need our help!”

Kurogane sees the bear-lion-cat- _thing_ first, flitting about on wings far too small, and the drawl of its accent reminds him of nothing so much as that guy Sorata, all the way back in Hanshin. “Sakura! You shouldn’t talk to strang- _whoa_ , you have a lot of magic there buddy. Who _are_ you guys?” Beady black eyes widen as they sweep over Fai, the mage smiling winsomely in the face of this inspection.

Sakura starts to introduce them - _this is Fai-san and, um, Kuro-tan-san and they’re looking for a friend of theirs_ \- but Kurogane doesn’t hear much more, not when the second figure steps from the shadows into the light; and while it’s certainly younger and a lot more petulant than when he last saw it, Kurogane would know that stubborn face _anywhere_.

(The witch would probably call it _hitsuzen_ , but wherever there is a Sakura, a Syaoran will not be far behind.)

What is new is the sheer grumpiness beetling dark brows, and the sullen grimace twisting his mouth - even at his most frustrated, every Syaoran Kurogane has ever known at least looked more like a man too young to fight the world’s injustices and struggling nobly onwards, as opposed to what he sees now: namely, a brat whose favourite toy has been stolen away. 

It’s ridiculous enough with everything Kurogane knows of the boys that he has travelled with that he has to cough to clear his throat, forcing his face to stillness and his features to indifference, and the soft chuckle Fai hides behind a smile and an upraised hand suggests the mage is having the same problem.

Gods help them both, but there’s no other word for it: the brat is _cute_.

Sakura beams at the boy - short, scowling, sulking - as he glares up at her, and he doesn’t mirror the expression even as she introduces them, apparently indifferent with long sleeves draping and his squarish hat shoved down low–

–at least, until Sakura presents him to Fai.

This time, Kurogane really does stare, and who can blame him: the change that takes over those bratty, boyish features is as alarming as it is violent, a sudden red flush colouring the kid from the tip of his chin to the brim of his hat and sweat speckling his cheeks as he gulps in nervous amazement. Mouth hanging open to give a greeting, the boy stammers, spluttering out an incoherent mash of syllables as Fai waves a friendly hello, and it’s not until sudden understanding hits him in a bemused wave that Kurogane finally gets it.

_Ah. So it’s like that, then._

Syaoran loves Sakura; Kurogane has never questioned that. Every Syaoran loves every Sakura, and it’s the kind of love that breaks dimensions and shatters the laws of time in its wake. He knows it. He’s _seen_ it.

But the Syaoran he knew - the _first_ Syaoran, the father of the _second_ Syaoran, the one whose company they are missing at this very moment - was just as easily flustered by the eager grin of a charming young lad as he was the most kindest of smiles from his pretty young princess, and this kid is no different.

Kurogane smirks. It’s good to know _some_ things are the same, no matter which world they’re on.

“It’s good to meet you, Li-kun,” says Fai warmly, and the blue of his eyes sparkles as he winks.

The kid’s mouth drops open, his teeth chattering, and his hands are shaking on the hilt of his small sword as he drops into a stiff, clumsy bow. Fai, apparently unaware of the effect his winsome smile is having, returns the bow with infinitely more grace, the long soft tail of his hair sighing like silk over his shoulder as he dips low - and this time the brat actually drops his sword in its sheath, lacquer rattling as it hits the dirt.

“Uh - I’m - _you_ -”

Fai’s magic is formidable, and wonderful, and _electric_ where it flares out across his aura, warping the space around him with its crackling rush of stormy power even without the mage calling upon it; for Kurogane, with no magical aptitude to speak of but who has trained for _years_ to sense such, it’s distracting even at the best of times. For a sensitive brat, with an aptitude inborn and only a little experience under his belt, it must be _devastating_ \- and that’s not even touching on the charisma that damn near _oozes_ from Fai when he’s trying to be charming.

Paired with blue eyes that glow and a smile that makes your heart skip, it’s no wonder the boy is damn near speechless.

“I have to go!” blurts Li, staggering back as though smacked in the chest, and the sudden snapping flap of his draping sleeves as he turns tail and runs - all but sprinting away from a bemused Fai and a stunned Sakura, the bear-cat thing flapping around her head cackling wildly - leaves them all standing in his dust.

“Li-kun…” says Sakura weakly, and the look she gives Fai and Kurogane both is several kinds of confused. “I don’t understand. Li-kun’s a bit grumpy sometimes, but he’s normally nice. I haven’t seen him act so… so _funny_ since we last ran into Yukito-san…”

“Huh,” says Fai softly, but the name drop seems to strike a chord. He shrugs, smiling faintly, and his eyes when they catch Kurogane’s gaze are wicked. “Well, all in all, it’s probably better that Li-kun didn’t end up helping us tonight.”

“ _H-hoe?_ ” blurts Sakura, but Kurogane kind of has to agree; two Syaorans is more than enough for him to deal with at the best of times. Adding a third to the mix is probably asking for trouble.

**Author's Note:**

> Poor Syaoran. He's such a useless bisexual, and the world is full of beautiful men.


End file.
